Читать книгу History of Duval County - Pleasant Daniel Gold - Страница 6

CHAPTER III. THE SECOND FRENCH COLONY.

TO UNDERSTAND properly the historical drama with its tragic denouement staged in the territory of Duval during the year 1565, the political history of Europe at that period must be given consideration. It is difficult to imagine, in the present light of international relations, that one nation at peace with its neighbor should massacre its settlers, utterly destroy its colony and the government allow the act to go unavenged. Yet such a tragedy occurred on the banks of the St. Johns River in 1565, and the outcome definitely decided the issue, whether this southern civilization should be French or Spanish, Protestant or Catholic.

In this period there sat upon the French throne Charles IX, a weak, vacillating king controlled by his mother, Catherine De Medici. France was part Protestant, part Catholic, and for years there had raged an internecine religious warfare, provoking hatred of brother for brother, family against family. No quarter was given on either side; it was first caught, first killed. Spain was Catholic and upon its throne sat Philip II, cruel and calculating, the son-in-law of Catherine De Medici; while in England, a Protestant country, his sister-in-law, the shrewd Queen Elizabeth, reigned.

Spain and England each being of one, if not the same, religious mind did not have the problems of religious civil war which confronted France. Yet each of the three monarchs connected by marriage ties with either one or the other, looked first to the safety of their dynasties, rather than to policies which affected the safety of their subjects. Therefore the French Huguenot colony on the River of May could expect little help from its own King as the aggressor was his brother-in-law, Philip of Spain, and one who had as his most powerful ally, Catherine De Medici, the Queen mother of France.

The treaty of Amboise in 1565 had temporarily suspended the religious wars in France, but at that time Admiral Ribault was a prisoner in England and did not return until the following year. At this time Coligny was fitting a fleet to go to Florida to reinforce Laudonnière and, immediately upon his return, put Ribault in command. It was a large colony for the times, though authorities differ as to the number. Gaffarel in his " Histoire de la Florida " claims there were one thousand; Rudiaz in " La Florida, " says there were seven hundred men and two hundred women, while one of King Philip' s representatives, reporting to him the departure of Ribault' s fleet from France, places the number at twelve hundred. All agree, however, that it was well supplied with seeds and implements for agriculture, young laborers, women and children, as well as a large company of soldiers and many gentlemen and adventurers.

From the best authorities the fleet consisted of seven vessels. Lowery gives the names of these as the " Trinity, " Jean Ribault' s flagship; the " Union, " " Trout, " " Shoulder of Mutton " and " Pearl, " the last of which was in command of Jacques Ribault, son of Jean Ribault. Another authority gives the names as the flagship " Trinity, " the " Emerillon, " the " Pearl, " the " Leoriere, " the " Shoulder of Mutton " and three others used as transports. All were under the command of Admiral Ribault, with Francoise Leger de la Grange second in command, and the fleet sailed from Havre, France, on May 10, 1565. Coligny gave Ribault authority to assume full command of the colony on the River of May. The vessel which had returned the year before, brought reports very detrimental to Laudonnière, one of which was to the effect that he planned to make himself King of New France. This was untrue, but it had the effect desired by Laudonnière' s enemies. Lowery says: " and Coligny, himself an austere man, was indignant at his ( Laudonnière' s ) having taken a woman with him to the distant colony. "

King Philip of Spain had been kept advised by his representatives and friends in France of the activities of the Huguenots, and had also prepared a fleet to proceed to Florida and establish a colony there, claiming that territory as his by right of discovery by Ponce de Leon. He placed in command Pedro Menendez de Aviles, who sailed from Cadiz on June 29, 1565.

Ribault, delayed by storms, did not arrive at the mouth of the River of May until August 28, the day before Laudonnière had planned to return to France. They approached cautiously, not knowing how they would be received by Laudonnière. The impoverished colony, however, welcomed the newcomers with great rejoicing; the Indians remembered Ribault with his long flowing beard and came with presents to greet him. With the new and elaborate acquisition to the colony the outlook for New France seemed very bright indeed. The colonists disembarked from the transports which, being of light draught, crossed the bar and proceeded up the river. Fort Caroline immediately became a veritable hive of industry in its preparations for the newcomers, by strengthening the fort, building new quarters and making ready for the tilling of the soil. It was the plan of Coligny that Caroline should be a permanent and thriving settlement. The four larger vessels drawing too much water to enter the river, had anchored about a mile off the mouth.

The French Colony enjoyed but seven days of peace. On September 4, one week from the day of Ribault' s arrival, his four vessels anchored on the outside were surprised by the sudden appearance of five Spanish galleons under Menendez, who had sighted Florida at Cape Canaveral the same day that Ribault had landed at Fort Caroline. Most of those who manned the French ships were ashore and the commander in charge had no authority to give battle to the fleet of a nation with which his own country was at peace. Menendez, on his flagship, the San Pelayo, approached unmolested, within hailing distance of the French flagship, and according to the account of both the French and the Spaniards demanded to know who the French were. The accounts vary as to the exact conversation, but agree as to the general import that Menendez demanded the surrender of the French vessels, which was promptly refused. It was just after nightfall; in the darkness, the Frenchmen cut their cables and slipped away, pursued by the Spaniards, who fired upon them and were answered in turn. The French ships being faster than the Spanish soon outdistanced them, three going to the north and one to the south. Menendez, with the San Pelayo, followed those to the north and Valdes, the admiral of his fleet, pursued those to the south. Menendez soon saw that he could not overtake the swift French ships and turned back to the mouth of the River May.

In the meantime the alarm of Ribault and the colony at Fort Caroline can be imagined, when the guns of the Spanish ships rang out in the calm September night. It was the first intimation Ribault had of the presence of the Spaniards. Fort Caroline was several miles from the mouth of the river and in the darkness the approach of the Spanish ships had not been observed in time for Ribault to go to the aid of his vessels. But it was easy for the French Admiral to guess the cause of the gunfire. Both he and Coligny had suspected the enmity of the Spaniards. He immediately prepared for an attack and by morning had his three vessels within the harbor ready at the mouth of the river, and two companies of soldiers on the hard beach nearby to oppose the landing of the Spaniards.

When Menendez returned from pursuit of the French vessels, he had intended to seize and fortify the mouth of the river, believing that with the French fleet divided and part of them trapped in the harbor, the colony would fall an easy prey. But finding Ribault prepared, he sailed south and landed at a harbor called Seloy by the Indians, and River Dolphin by Laudonnière. Here he disembarked on September 8, 1565, and began the building of St. Augustine.

The scattered French vessels soon returned and reported Menendez' s landing at St. Augustine. The problem that now confronted the French was the destruction of the Spaniards, or their own destruction, for Ribault foresaw that the two colonies could not live in such close proximity and that the Spaniards intended his destruction or they would not have so boldly attacked his ships. He determined to take the offensive. In this decision his lieutenants, almost to a man, disagreed with him. Laudonnière at the time was very ill with fever, but urged the importance of defense rather than attack, and the importance of immediately strengthening Fort Caroline against the coming of Menendez. La Grange agreed with Laudonnière, but Ribault would not listen to argument. He had determined to attack the Spanish fleet at once, and in this determination lay the cause of his own destruction and the utter annihilation of the French colony.

He immediately gave orders to prepare the ships, reloading what was necessary for his campaign of attack and stripping the fort of part of its cannon. He even took the best of Laudonnière' s own men. On September 10 they sailed from the mouth of the River of May and were soon off the harbor of St. Augustine.

From Menendez' s own account of the circumstances which followed, it was through no fault of Ribault' s nor through any credit to himself that St. Augustine was prevented from falling into the hands of the French. Menendez had unloaded two of his ships, which could not enter the harbor, and had sent them to Hispaniola for the reason, as he stated, that they might not be captured by the French. He had just completed this task and the ships had departed only a few hours, when the French fleet arrived. Menendez himself narrowly escaped being captured as he crossed the bar in a small boat. The low tide compelled the French fleet to wait for high water, at which time they were prepared to enter the harbor and attack with advantages in both ships and men.

According to Solis de Meras, a Spanish Chronicler, a miracle saved St. Augustine. He says, " about two hours from the time the enemy were waiting for the tide to be high, God, our Lord, performed a miracle, for the weather being fair and clear, suddenly the sea rose very high and a strong and a contrary wind came up which made the return to their fort and harbor difficult for the French. "

It was a hurricane that drove the French fleet south, and wrecked it upon the hard beach of the present county of Volusia. According to Le Moyne, who was not present but heard the story from the lips of a sailor of Dieppe, who years later escaped to France, only one man perished at sea, but all their supplies and most of their arms and ammunition were lost. Miserable and destitute the company started north on their course along the beach in their effort to reach Fort Caroline.